This novel of turn-of-the-century white "Florida Crackers" marks a daring departure for the author famous for her complex accounts of black culture...
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Apr 16, 2010
Whitney
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Jul 13, 2011
J
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(FROM JACKET)This novel of turn-of-the-century white "Florida Crackers" marks a daring departure for the author famous for her complex accounts of black culture and heritage. Full of insights into the nature of love, attraction, faith, and loyalty, "Seraph on the Suwanee" is the compellilng story of two people at once deeply at odds. The heroine, young Arvay Henson, is convinced she will never find true love and happines, and defends herself from unwanted suitors by throwing
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Jul 11, 2009
Penumbra
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This is a re-read for me, I wanted to find the present day slang that is used in this 1940's book about the early 1900's. Its interesting to me the way sayings such as "fly" and "hitting a lick" have survived. The book itself is enjoyable, but I found Arvay to be SO frustrating in her insecurities, but, I could understand where she was coming from and how, a lot of times our ignorance will cause us to cut off our noses to spite our faces. I appreciated this exploration of com
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Jul 16, 2011
A former professor of mine once said, while discussing DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, that it's a book about female pleasure and female identity but not necessarily about female independence. The same can be said about Zora Neale Hurston's compelling but in many ways frustrating 1948 novel Seraph on the Suwanee. The character arc of the protagonist, poor white "Cracker" Arvay Henson, is in some ways an ultra-traditional one: she must learn to be the best wife possible to her
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Oct 09, 2011
Emily
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I had high hopes for this one--Zora, you're so great!--but I had a really hard time getting over how crappy the characters were. The novel is the story of two people, Arvay and Jim Meserve, and their life together as a married couple: children, struggles, miscommunication, etc. Which may not sound that interesting (it was the only ZNH book at Dunaway Books last time I went!), but the concept of the novel itself is not my issue.
First of all, Jim rapes Arvay at the beginning of their c More...
First of all, Jim rapes Arvay at the beginning of their c More...
Jan 14, 2011
Melissa
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This is the best fiction book by Zora Neale Hurston that I have read so far. I think I liked it best because everything was so familiar to me. Everything from the dedication to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (author of Cross Creek) and everywhere they lived or visited has been a part of my life growing up in Florida. The characters are deep and the journey of self discovery that the main female protagonist embarks on is riveting. Hurston successfully achieved her goal to write about the lives of the F
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Oct 25, 2011
Grace
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There was something missing from the book. I never felt as though I could relate to Arvey much. I found her insecurities to be very annoying and an obvious source of her worldview and hence behaviors / interactions with her husband Jim. I think it was this very aspect of the book that that was disappointing to me as soooo much of the story was spent wrapped in that 1 area. Just feel as though it should have expanded in other directions instead of having such a narrow focus. I can say however, th
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May 20, 2009
Bernice
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Like others of Zora's books, this book takes place in post civil war Florida. this fiction creates a structure to explore the nerve twitching symbiotic relationship between black and white residents as they struggle to make a living and move forward in what is a new world for both of them. best of all though, the characters are extremely complicated. Quick decisions of who is the "good" or "bad" guy will get unraveled, put back together, and unraveled again. I plan on reread
Apr 18, 2011
Rachel
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I'm sorry. I really wanted to like it, and I admit there were some very pretty lines, and at times I even found the plot interesting. The majority of the book, however, I found pretty distasteful; I suppose I am glad that I read it, but I could certainly have done without the overarching message that glorifies clinging dependence on other people (especially a somewhat abusive husband) for your feelings of self-worth. Plus, I just couldn't really bring myself to like, respect, or identify with
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Oct 31, 2011
Florence
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The author, Zora Huston, IA noted black writer wrote primarily about the Florida blacks. This story tells the story of a "cracker" couple in Florida who loved each other, but did. Of understand each other at all. We read of their problems as their marriage struggles and flounders through many problems. At last after children are adults Arvay finally begins to truly understand her husband's love. An interesting story of the first half of the 20th century.
Jun 25, 2011
Jeff
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Truly enjoyed this novel, perhaps more than I liked Their Eyes Were Watching God. At first it seems there's no real conflict to the plot, but Hurston does a fantastic job of easing the reader into Arvay's world. They are characters that you come to care about. I understand why this doesn't have such a formidable place in the canon, but it's still a well told story. I thought she sold out a little with the ending, but I guess Arvay earned her happy ending.
Dec 18, 2008
Anjali
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Zora Neale Hurston is some kind of genius. This novel follows one woman's innermost feelings and insecurities as she goes from an awkward teenager to a wife and a mother. The description on goodreads says that this book is about a marriage "full of love but with very little communication," but seeing as that marriage starts with rape and kidnapping, I would say I think NOT. Actually, I think this book has a real feminist lens on the feelings of powerlessness and guilt that are impos
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Feb 14, 2011
kasia
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I loved this book. Yes, there are squirm-inducing moments of misogyny, but if you can get over that, it's one of the most compelling portraits of insecurity I've ever seen, and a wonderful, gorgeous love story to boot. I honestly couldn't put it down.
The more detailed blog review
The more detailed blog review
Feb 15, 2011
Lisa (OhThatLisa)
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Not as absolutely transcendent as Their Eyes Were Watching God but still a lovely, satisfying, and insightful book. Zora Neale Hurston must have had extraordinary powers of introspection because she digs deep into the mind of Womankind, finds the painful, unspoken, ungraspable stuff that slithers around our heads throughout a lifetime, and holds it all proudly up to the sun. Just crazy perceptive.
Dec 17, 2007
Kristin
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This is Hurston's last published novel. It is also the novel that gets the least critical attention because it does not fit comfortably within the feminist or African American literary traditions. This is the most experimental of her novels. In her letters, we learn that Hurston was trying to say something about the state of marriage American society. The novel's heroine, Arvay Henson, is a challenge to readers. I think Hurston struggled to identify with her as well, which makes her occasional
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Apr 21, 2011
Sheena
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Once again, love this author. This book is a great story of a woman, her life, how she limited herself throughout it but opened up in the end and started living. Great read. Inspiring.
Sep 25, 2010
Melissa
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I swear, read it like you would another version of Taming of the Shrew and you might be fine. Clearly it's not exactly like Taming of the Shrew. Cultural parts made the womanist/feminist in my cringe.
Mar 27, 2011
Isabella
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A love story to make you cry. Hurstons story telling of a womans journey and self discovery is spellbinding.
Nov 25, 2010
Babydoll
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This is the second novel that I read by Hurston. The first being the classic novel, There Eyes Were Watching God. I could not claim that she is one of my favorite authors and not have read all her books, so I made it a priority to read this book. While I was researching facts about this novel, I discovered that Hurston did not want to be confined with only writing about African Americans, so she wrote this novel with the main characters being Caucasian. I did enjoy this book, and I look forward
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Sep 19, 2011
Reagan
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i ended up really liking this book though it was an odd choice for me (my book club made me do it). Hurston's style is always great, but the premise "the love story of two Florida crackers from the 1910s"...was not immediately appealing.
But glad i powered through it, the characters really came off the page. I was surprised at how well Hurston was able to capture the nuances of the "cracker" population (i just don't get tired of using that word).
all in all More...
But glad i powered through it, the characters really came off the page. I was surprised at how well Hurston was able to capture the nuances of the "cracker" population (i just don't get tired of using that word).
all in all More...
May 29, 2008
Camille
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May 29, 2008
For the life if me I can't figure out what it is that keeps drawing me back to this book. I was craving reading it so badly this month, so Bob bought it for me for Mother's day. I'm sure I'll be back to it again.
Oct 14, 2008
Finished second reading. Still as enjoyable second time around.
Oct 9, 2007
It's not as good as Their Eyes Were Watching God, but still a great read. I just finished it last week and am already part-way through a
For the life if me I can't figure out what it is that keeps drawing me back to this book. I was craving reading it so badly this month, so Bob bought it for me for Mother's day. I'm sure I'll be back to it again.
Oct 14, 2008
Finished second reading. Still as enjoyable second time around.
Oct 9, 2007
It's not as good as Their Eyes Were Watching God, but still a great read. I just finished it last week and am already part-way through a
Jul 31, 2009
Dana
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It was interesting to read this novel as it is probably Hurston's least well known work and it was just recently put back into print. This book is about "crackers" in Florida and I felt the characters were poorly developed and it was therefore difficult to empathize with them. I also thought the characters were stereotypical and the relationship between Jim and Arvay too surface to be compelling.
Jun 12, 2009
Amanda
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This is a beautiful book about self confidence, selfishness, love and marriage. Throughout her 20-something years of marriage, the main character, Arvay, questions whether her husband loves her. Eventually, she is forced to realize and examine the depth of his love and devotion for her, only to find that in her doubts she has failed him.
Jan 08, 2008
Rachel
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I wish Hurston wrote more novels from a woman's perspective. Reading this along with Their Eyes Were Watching God was like having the soft insistent voices inside every woman's head be voiced aloud on paper. What amazes me is that this is such a sympathetic portrait of a poor white woman by a poor black woman.
Dec 16, 2009
Ola
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Ahh, my first Hurston novel. Seraph on the Suwanee chroncles the life of a Southern, white, married couple in the early 1900s. It started off a little slow for me. But around 50 pages or so, I started liking the novel. I hope to read more Zora Neale Hurston books in the future.
Mar 20, 2008
Carrie
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I felt bad for Jeromy the first time I read this book. I couldn't put it down . . . for three days I don't think I really talked to him. I loved it. I loved the ending. It has to be one of my all time favorite books.
Feb 22, 2008
Stephanie
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I learned a little about Florida history, also about love, marriage, motherhood, and communication. An intelligent love story. The writing is poetic, absorbing, lush. Reading this book was a very enjoyable experience.
Nov 03, 2008
Christina
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Would have been fantastic were it not for countless reference to woman's inferiority to man. Hard to get past that, and from the same author that made Jamie Crawford so strong in Their Eyes Were Watching God, too.
